Dudley man must pay $309,490 over recycling fraud

A Dudley man was ordered Thursday to make restitution in a fraud case involving a former Charlton hazardous waste recycling business that defrauded a New York developer.

William S. McCambridge, 51, in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Conn., was placed on probation for one year and ordered by Senior U.S. District Judge Warren W. Eginton to pay $309,490 restitution.

In 2009, Mr. McCambridge pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. The charge stemmed from his participation in a scheme to defraud the developer of a New York shopping mall by submitting inflated invoices for the removal of contaminated soil.

According to court documents and statements, Mr. McCambridge was recruited by two men affiliated with a Connecticut-based site redevelopment and environmental remediation firm to own and run Recycle Technology, a contaminated-fuel- and soil-disposal and recycling company just off Route 20 in Charlton. The men, affiliated with a North Haven, Conn.-based company, Earth Technology, provided Recycle Technology with hundreds of thousands of dollars in start-up funds while one of the men exercised secret oversight and control over Recycle Technology. Mr. McCambridge’s company got financial support during most of its short existence.

In September 2004, the general contractor for the construction of a shopping mall in New York entered into a subcontract with the Connecticut company to provide site preparation services, including soil excavation. During the project, a portion of the soil was found to contain high levels of lead.

In December 2004, the Connecticut company arranged for the contaminated soil to be taken to and disposed of at a facility in New Jersey for $127.50 per ton. However, the company instructed the New Jersey facility to send the invoices for the disposal of the soil to Mr. McCambridge at Recycle Technology as the “broker” for the disposal of the soil.

The arrangement, though, was a sham. Mr. McCambridge was instructed to have Recycle Technology bill the Connecticut company $218 per ton for the removal of the contaminated soil.

In January 2005, Recycle Technology faxed two invoices, one for $314,792.00 and the other for $334,422.90, to the Connecticut company, which then marked up the amount by 15 percent and submitted an invoice for payment to the general contractor. The general contractor paid the Connecticut company and passed the costs on to the developer.

Mr. McCambridge and his co-conspirators, Frank M. Ruocco Jr., and Boris A. Tomicic, agreed the Connecticut company would be entitled to most of the money generated by the scheme and Recycle Technology would keep only a small portion of it.

Last year, Mr. Tomicic, of West Hartford, Conn., was sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment in connection with the case. He was Earth Technology’s project manager and exercised control over the Charlton company. Mr. Tomicic was also ordered to pay $90,000 restitution to Chubb Insurance.

Mr. McCambridge was scheduled to be sentenced in September 2009, but the case has had many unexplained delays. He had faced the possibility of imprisonment for five years and a fine of up to $250,000.